Islam
is rapidly growing as a
spiritual challenge in the Caribbean. For example, Suriname and Guyana — the latter with Muslims as
some 10 – 12% of the population — are now both full members of the Islamic Conference
Organisation, OIC, and are therefore officially Islamic
countries. In the mid 1990’s in Barbados, over half of recorded conversions were to Islam.
Jamaica, too has a rising Islamic
influence, especially through the claims[21] that the Spanish settlement from 1494
on was predominantly Moorish, and that “Moor”: (1) implies Islamic – true, and
(2) includes Black African (misleading[22]).

It
is then inferred that the majority of Jamaicans are descended from Islamic Moors,
who were brought
here as slaves by the Spanish or the British, so that: “[c]ontemporaneous to the autonomous Muslim Maroon ummah, hundreds of thousands of Mu’minun(the Believers of the Islamic faith) of African descent worked as slaves on
the plantations in Jamaica.”[23] Specifically, the
Maroons are viewed as resisting the British invaders of 1655 by jihad,
as Saladin resisted and finally defeated Richard the Lion Heart and the other
Crusaders in the Middle East. Slave revolts, similarly, are reinterpreted by
Dr. Afroz as jihads,
especially the 1831/2 “Baptist War” rebellion:

Jihad became the religious and political ideology
of these crypto-Muslims, who became members of the various denominational nonconformist
churches since being sprinkled with the water by the rectors of the parishes.[24] Despite the experience of the most
cruel servitude and the likelihood of a swift and ruthless suppression of the
rebellion, the spiritually inspired Mu’minuncollectively responded to the call for an island-wide jihad in
1832. Commonly known as the Baptist Rebellion, the Jihad of 1832 wrought
havoc of irreparable dimension to the plantation system and hastened the Emancipation
Act of 1833. [Afroz, p. 227. NB: This claim is
most
improbable.]

Thus,
it is concluded by Islamic advocates that the Caribbean’s ancestral and cultural roots are largely Islamic. Islam, then,
seeks cultural legitimacy in the Caribbean as being linked to our predominantly African identity,
which is specifically tied to an
emphasis on jihad as military struggle. On this basis, Caribbean peoples are in effect invited to turn away from both
secularism and the Christian religion of our oppressors,
and “return” to Islam.

Responding to the Islamic Challenge

The
shaky historical and cultural foundation for
the above claims should be quite evident: the overwhelming historical and
anthropological evidence is that our “crypto-Muslim” African ancestors were in
fact predominantly and very actively animistic, and that Islam first gained a
significant institutionalised presence in the region
with the settlement of Indian indentured labourers in the mid-nineteenth century. As for the
concept that the Maroons were Moorish/Islamic to the point of constituting an
Islamic community under Islamic law (i.e. an ummah),
one should start by considering the fact that they have been famous, from Spanish
times, for Jerk Pork — a major Islamic no-no[25]!

(1)In the early seventh
century, the Angel Gabriel reportedly appeared to Muhammad,
a merchant from Mecca in SW Arabia,
and initiated a series of revelations that have been handed down in the Quran
[“Recitation”] and the Hadiths [traditions and
sayings of the Prophet]. These revelations and traditions are the foundation
for Islamic teachings/belief and faith [iman],
law [sharia] and community [umma], all of which are to be integrated,
instituted and enforced in a properly established Muslim state.[28]

(2)Muhammad
first hesitated — he wondered if he was going mad under demonic influence, and
had to be encouraged by his wife, Khadijah — but then
began to preach in Mecca, where he made but few converts. While his basic
sincerity was clear, he found that his claims were rejected by the Christians
and the Jews,[29] and by the majority
of the pagan Meccans; some of whom threatened his safety
and persecuted his followers. So, after being invited to be its ruler, he
fled to Yathrib in 622, which was renamed Medina, the City of
the Prophet.

(3)From the base in
Medina, Islam then
spread by alliance, conversion and military victories. Within a decade,
Arabia was under Islamic
rule. Jews and Christians were reduced to
subject people status as dhimmis
[protected persons], and were ultimately expelled from Arabia under Umar. It also seems that pagans were often viewed as
having no religion, and were at least sometimes offered the options of conversion
to Islam, or being put to the sword. All of this was in accord with the
temper of the times, and it seems that at least some Christians in Syria saw the
prospect of Islamic rule as an improvement over “Christian” Byzantine rule!

(4)After
Muhammad’s death
in 632, at the [approximate] age of sixty-three, the
process of conquest continued under Abu Bakr and
the other early Caliphs. Islamic armies swept over the Persian and
Byzantine empires, spreading across the Middle East and North Africa, and on into
Europe and India by 711.
In the West they were stopped by Charles Martel at Tours, about a hundred
miles from Paris, in 732.
Reportedly, Islamic sea raiders attacked the Irish coasts as well.[30](NB: This footnote
discusses the
crusades and related issues, with links to discussions by Bernard Lewis and
Bat Ye'or. This link,
the 463 years of continual Jihad-associated attacks [not the often
assumed "peaceful coexistence"] leading up to the first Crusade of
1095. Here, one may explore links on the related issues of slavery, the slave trade and abolition.)

(5)Beyond those regions,
Islam has been predominantly spread by traders and the teachings of Islamic holy
men, especially the mystical Sufis.
Thus for instance, Indonesia became the world’s
most populous Muslim country, and sub-Saharan Africa
saw a gradual Islamic penetration from the North from about the tenth century
on.[31] (In recent decades, there has
also been a large-scale, well organised Dawa,
a missionary campaign to proclaim and establish
Islam in all nations.)

(6)Islamic
believers famously practice the Five
Pillars of Islam: (1) Confession that Allah
alone is God and Muhammad his Prophet/Apostle — Authoritative Spokesman; (2) Prayer
to Allah while prostrated towards Mecca, five times
per day; (3) Fasting (especially during Ramadan); (4) Almsgiving; (5) where possible,
Pilgrimage to the Kaaba in Mecca.[32] Some add a sixth pillar,
Jihad,
or struggle: classically, in the sense of religiously motivated military conflict
to extend the sphere of Islam, but the term is also used in the “higher” sense
of spiritual/moral struggle.

(7)In the process of its initial territorial expansion, Islam viewed the world
as divided into two zones: Dar al Islam [the house of submission to Allah[33]];
and Dar al Harb [the house of the sword/war].
In the former domain, those who hold to other religions — most notably Judaism
and Christianity — may continue to practice their belief, but are often subjected
to the conditions of the Pact of Umar, and are Dhimmis
[“protected persons”] with sharply restricted Civil Rights relative to Muslim
men.[34] From the Seventh Century on,
this has materially contributed to the conversion of subject peoples to Islam,
as people sought to gain the status of full members of the community.[35]

(8)Treaties with non-Islamic states, on this classic Islamic view, are inherently
temporary truces,[36]
and the expansion
of Islam by military means is always an open option. (According to some
observers, the classic example of this was set by Muhammad
himself, who they say broke a peace treaty between Medina and the Quraysh of Mecca,[37] and so conquered his native city, putting
to the sword key opponents and critics, including a poetess who had composed satirical
poems challenging his integrity.) However, from the Middle Ages on, there have been Muslim scholars, jurists and
statesmen who have argued for a more permanent character to such treaties.[38]

(9)Islam views the Old Testament prophets and Jesus as Prophets of Allah,
and regards the Bible as inspired, to the extent that it has not been corrupted.[39]
In particular, the concept of the Trinity
is viewed as an attempt to elevate Mary — yes, Mary — and Jesus
to divine status alongside Allah, that is Shirk,[40]and Christianity is therefore
often viewed as idolatrous. Muhammad, as Allah’s final
Prophet, has the last say on matters of revelation and fact.

(10)As Surah 4:156 – 158 records, the Quran
specifically denies
the crucifixion of Christ: “they killed him not, nor crucified him . . . .
Nay, Allah raised him up unto Himself.”[41] Thus, the Quran’s
message is explicitly incompatible
with the core gospel message: “on which [we Christians] have taken [our] stand.
By this gospel [we] are saved if [we] hold firmly to the word . . . . that Christ
died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was
raised on the third day according to the Scriptures . . . . And if Christ
has not been raised [from the dead], our preaching is useless and so is [our]
faith . . . [we] are still in [our] sins.” [1 Cor.
15:2 – 5, 14, 17.]

(11)As
Dr Patrick Sookhdeo — who is familiar with Caribbean
Islam from his upbringing in his native Guyana — also reports,
“Muslims believe that Jesus will come back to earth as a Muslim, will marry and
have children, then die and be buried near Muhammad. Some traditions assert
that at this second coming He will destroy every cross, kill all Jews, convert
the Christians to Islam, and reign as king of all Muslims.” [Sookhdeo, p. 22.]

However,
there is no real evidential basis for such corruption
of the text, since we can directly trace its history, and that of the teachings
of the Church Fathers, to the edge of the First Century. Indeed, this
history is also externally supported: for example Pliny the Younger, Roman
Governor of Bithynia circa 110 AD, in discussing trials of Christians,
confirms the doctrinal picture we read in the New Testament. Josephus, a
Jewish historian, and Seutonius, a Roman historian, allow us to carry this recognizable
picture back to the 30’s to 70’s. Pagan graffiti in Roman Arenas mocks early
Christians for worshipping a crucified Christ (who is sometimes mockingly caricatured
with an Ass’ head). Even the Talmud, by accusing him of blasphemy and demonic
powers, provides inadvertent support to the historicity of Jesus’ teachings, claims
and miracles.

In
short, biblical, orthodox Christian teachings and beliefs are, beyond reasonable
doubt, rooted in the historic New Testament Faith. Paul
summarises the core of that Faith as he sets out the theme
of his Epistle to the Romans, which dates to the 50’s in the First Century — within
thirty years of Jesus’ ministry:

[T]he gospel of God — the gospel he promised
beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who
as to his human nature was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of
holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God, by his resurrection from
the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. [Rom1:2 – 4.]

Unfortunately,
such a law-centred framework for achieving righteousness
simply will
not, and cannot, work.[43] The agonized, lived-out words of the
Apostle Paul — who started his life as “a Hebrew of Hebrews . . . as for legalistic
righteousness, faultless”[44] — explain why:

We know that
the law is spiritual; but I
am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do.
For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do . . . . When I want to
do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in
God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war
against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work
within my members. Who
will rescue me from this body of death?[45]

In
short, knowing and delighting in the righteous requirements of God is good, but
it is utterly incapable of breaking through our underlying problem: enslavement
to sin. Is there any hope for us?

Thank
God, yes! Paul, speaking from experience,
explains why the gospel lives up to its name — Good News:

Thanks be
to God — through Jesus Christ our Lord . . . . because through Christ Jesus the
law of the Spirit of life set [us] free from the law of sin and death. For
what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature,
God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering.
And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements
of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature
but according to the Spirit . . . . And if the Spirit of him who raised
Christ from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will
also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit . . . . if
you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if
by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because
those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.[46]

Thus,
while it is appropriate to point out to our Muslim friends that there are significant
misunderstandings in the Islamic picture of Christianity, that there is good
historical evidence for the claims that Jesus suffered under Pontius Pilate,
died on a cross and rose from the dead, and that there is solid reason
to reject the claims that the New Testament is fraudulent or corrupted, these
are not the heart of the matter.

All who
rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone
who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the law.”
Clearly no-one is justified before God by the law because, “The righteous will
live by faith.” The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, “The man
who does these things will live by them.” Christ redeemed us from the curse
of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone
who is hung on a tree.” He redeemed us in order that the
blessing given to Abraham might come
to the ethne [Nations] through Christ Jesus,
so that by faith we might receive
the promise of the Spirit.

NOTICES:
This course module was originally created by Gordon Mullings, in 1985, for use
as part of a manual for Cell Group Leaders for the UCCF, in Jamaica and the wider
Caribbean. It has been subsequently revised and developed, to date. (DISCLAIMER:
While reasonable attempts have been made to provide accurate, fair and informative
materials for use in training, no claim is made for absolute truth, and corrections
based on factual errors and/or gaps or inconsistencies in reasoning are welcome.)
FAIR USE: The contents of this module are intended for use as a support
for learning about responding to the typical intellectual challenges to the Christian
Faith and gospel that are commonly
encountered in the Caribbean, especially in tertiary education and in commentary
in the regional and international media. Permission is therefore granted to link
to this page for fair use under intellectual property law, and for reasonable
citation of the linked content on this site for
church- or parachurch- group related training and/or for personal or academic
use; this specifically excludes reproduction, linking or citation for commercial,
controversial or media purposes without the Author's
written permission -- especialy where matters relating to the validity and
value of Faith/Religious/Atheological Commitments and Truth-Claims are being debated
or disputed. PDF version available,
under similar terms. COPYRIGHT:GEM 2002. All rights are reserved.

[22] The OED notes: (1) “Moor: a member of
a Muslim people of mixed Berber and Arab descent, inhabiting N W Africa”;
(2)“Berber: a member of the indigenous mainly Muslim Caucasian
peoples of N. Africa”; and (3) “Arab: a member of a Semitic people
inhabiting originally Saudi Arabia and the neighbouring
countries, now the Middle East generally.” For, arising from the Islamic
conquest of The Middle East and North Africa in the seventh century, and from a process of conversion to Islam and
intermarriage, the Moors emerged as a new people. They played a major role
in the Islamic invasion of Europe from 711 - 714 AD on, and ruled much of the
Iberian Peninsula (making significant cultural contributions to Iberia and to
Europe as a whole) until the Reconquista was
completed when the Moorish Kingdom of Granada was defeated by Ferdinand and Isabella
in 1491. There was an infusion of black, sub-Saharan Africans into the Moorish
mix, largely due to the Islamic
slave trade. Trade and travel into sub-Saharan
Africa
also led to the penetration of Islam in East, Central and West Africa. However, the predominant religions and cultures of sub-Saharan Africa
continued to be animistic until quite recent times, with the
rise of the Christian Missionary movement — in which Jamaicans (especially
the Baptists) and other Caribbeans played no small part
from 1839 on.

[23]Afroz, S.: “The Jihad of
1831–1832: The Misunderstood Baptist Rebellion in Jamaica,” Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, Vol. 21, No.
2, 2001, p. 227. In short, the Afroz claim
is that Afro-Jamaican slaves were predominantly Islamic. (For, the historical
record indicates that the population at Emancipation was 320,000, as say Rev.
Devon Dick reports.)

[25] Similarly, Nanny is far more readily understood as an
adept of African Religions than as a miracle-working Sufi Saint.

[26] Over the past five centuries, once the Scriptures were
put in the hands of the ordinary man, Christianity has frequently played a leading
prophetic role in cultural and social reformation, not least in the abolition
of slavery. Even the modern democratic nation-state is largely a heritage
of the Protestant Reformation. [Cf. The Dutch Declaration of Independence,
1581, Duplesis-Mornay’s 1579 Vindiciae Contra Tyrannos,
and Rutherford’s Lex, Rex as
well as the second paragraph of the American Declaration of Independence, 1776.
Also, cf. discussion here.]

[31] This is why in many African nations in the band from
say the Ivory
Coast and
Nigeria to Sudan, Uganda and Kenya, there is a consistent pattern of an Islamic North, and
a Christian and/or Animist South. (The strong Christian presence in sub-Saharan
Africa is in the main due to the modern Christian Missionary
movements of the past three Centuries. That in Northern Africa is due to the strong base of early Christianity in the
African provinces of the Roman
Empire.)

[32] Originally, the Kaaba was a
Pagan shrine, reportedly dedicated to 360 gods, including Allah. The three
goddesses, Al Lat, Al Uzza and Manat — who in the “Satanic Verses” Muhammad allowed prayers
to be directed to — were apparently traditionally identified as Allah’s three
daughters, in the native pagan religion. (Cf. Sura
53:19 – 23, subsequently abrogated and modified to read very differently in the
current version.)

[33] The root meaning of the word “Islam” is submission; such
submission to Allah then results in “peace.” A “Muslim” is one who has submitted,
and thus has found peace. This contrasts with the Christian/Hebraic message
that there is a radical alienation from God due to sin and guilt, which must be
expiated. [Cf. Rom. 5:1 -11, 7:14 – 8:19.]

[34] For instance, their testimony in Court is regarded as
not credible relative to that of a Muslim. This sharply restricts the ability
of dhimmis to engage in commerce with confidence, to
own property or to hold responsible positions. Thus, since this condition
is deeply rooted in Islamic tradition, even where it is not officially the law
of the land, it leads to a distinct second class citizen status for such dhimmis.
Cf. http://www.dhimmitude.org/archive/by_lecture_10oct2002.htmfor Bat Ye’or’s
detailed review.

[35] The consensus of the four main schools of Islamic law,
Hanifi, Maliki,
Shafi and Hanbali,
is that adult males who leave Islam are subject to the death penalty. Even
where this is not enforced through the state, such converts are often isolated
from their families, sometimes under threat to their lives, and need the understanding
and ongoing support of the Christian community.

[36] Islam regards deception in war as religiously justifiable.
Thus, Muhammad’s treaty with Mecca reportedly set the precedent for Takiya,
described as “peace when you are weak for the purposes of defeating your enemy when
you are stronger.” [Cf. Farah,
The lesson of al-Hudaybiyah,http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=27712.]

[37] Others assert that the Meccans
provoked Muhammad’s assault by attacking his allies. (It should be noted
that such disputes over who first started hostilities are common. But the
most salient points for our attention are that: (1) what may constitute a “provocation”
in Islamic eyes is extremely
flexible, and (2) “temporary truces” is a clear Islamic model for dealing
with powerful opponents in the short term while preparing for renewed hostilities
at a more favourable time. For,
in
Islamist eyes, true peace is only possible when the world is reduced to submission
to Allah — the root meaning of “Islam.”)

[38] The ambivalence in the commitment of Islamic nations
to the UN Charter on Human Rights is a most important case in point.

[40] See Surah4:48 and 171, and 5:116. Shirk is viewed as the
most deadly of all sins, 4:48
describes it as unpardonable: “Allah forgiveth not that
partners should be set up with Him; but He forgiveth
anything else.” However, the Islamic view on the Trinity reflects Muhammad’s
encounters with heretical sects in Arabia
rather than the biblically rooted orthodox Christian understanding of the
Tri-unity of the Godhead. [Especially see Heb. 1:1 – 14, John 1:1 –
14, Phil. 2:5 – 11, 1 Cor. 12:2 – 6, Acts 5:3 - 4.]
The historic Christian teaching asserts that God is One, a complex unity: a unity
of Eternal being, integrated with a diversity of personal manifestation: Father,
Son and Spirit. (It bears noting that Son, here, is not used in the physical
sense; the incarnation is not at all parallel to the pagan tales of gods and their
proclivities for pretty girls.) Thus, the tension between unity and
diversity in the cosmos finds its resolution in the inherent nature of the Godhead.
This is mysterious, but it is not contradictory, for even water, ice and steam
share a common nature while being vastly diverse as to manifestation. More
profoundly, “God is Love” [1 John 4:8] — an interpersonal, relational concept
— is viewed by Christians as integral to the essential nature of God.